The impact of the spin-orbit misalignment and of the spin of B on the Lense-Thrirring orbital precessions of the Double Pulsar PSR J0737-3039A/B

Abstract

In the Double Pulsar, the Lense-Thirring periastron precession ${\dot{\omega }}^{\mathrm{LT}}$ should be measured by the end of this decade. The analyses recently appeared in the literature rely upon a formula for ${\dot{\omega }}^{\mathrm{LT},\mathrm{A}}$ induced by the spin angular momentum ${\mathbf{S}}^{\mathrm{A}}$ of A valid if the orbital angular momentum $\mathbf{L}$ and ${\mathbf{S}}^{\mathrm{A}}$ are aligned, and neglecting ${\dot{\omega }}^{\mathrm{LT},\mathrm{B}}$ because of the smallness of ${\mathbf{S}}^{\mathrm{B}}$. The impact on ${\dot{\omega }}^{\mathrm{LT},\mathrm{A}}$ of the departures of the ${\mathbf{S}}^{\mathrm{A}}$-$\mathbf{L}$ geometry from the ideal alignment is calculated. With the current upper bound on the misalignment angle ${\delta }_{\mathrm{A}}$ between them, the angles ${\lambda }_{\mathrm{A}},{\eta }_{\mathrm{A}}$ of ${\mathbf{S}}^{\mathrm{A}}$ are constrained within $85^{\circ }\lesssim {\lambda }_{\mathrm{A}}\lesssim 92^{\circ },266^{\circ }\lesssim {\eta }_{\mathrm{A}}\lesssim 274^{\circ }$. In units of ${\dot{\omega }}^{\mathrm{GR}}=16.89^{\circ }{\mathrm{yr}}^{-1}$, a range variation as little as $\Delta {\dot{\omega }}^{\mathrm{LT},\mathrm{A}}\doteq {\dot{\omega }}_{\max }^{\mathrm{LT},\mathrm{A}}-{\dot{\omega }}_{\min }^{\mathrm{LT},\mathrm{A}}=8\times 10^{-8}{\omega }^{\mathrm{GR}}$ is implied. The experimental uncertainty ${\sigma }_{{\dot{\omega }}_{\mathrm{obs}}}$ in measuring the periastron rate with the SKA 1-mid telescope should become smaller by 2028-2030. Then, the spatial orientation of ${\mathbf{S}}^{\mathrm{B}}$ is constrained from the existing bounds on the misalignment angle ${\delta }_{\mathrm{B}}$, and ${\dot{\omega }}^{\mathrm{LT},\mathrm{B}}\simeq 2\times 10^{-7}{\dot{\omega }}^{\mathrm{GR}}$ is correspondingly calculated. The error ${\sigma }_{{\dot{\omega }}_{\mathrm{obs}}}$ should become smaller at the transition from MeerKAT+ facility to SKA 1-mid around 2025. (Abridged)

LaTex2e, 25 pages, 6 figures, no tables. Abstract abridged to comply with the limits by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS)

References in corpus (8)

• Tests of general relativity from timing the double pulsar
• Gravity Probe B: Final Results of a Space Experiment to Test General Relativity
• Phenomenology of the Lense-Thirring effect in the Solar System
• Astrophysical and theoretical physics implications from multimessenger neutron star observations
• Constraining the dense matter equation-of-state with radio pulsars
• Interstellar Scintillation of the Double Pulsar J0737$-$3039
• The Relativistic Binary Programme on MeerKAT: Science objectives and first results
• Stringent Tests of Gravity with Highly Relativistic Binary Pulsars in the Era of LISA and SKA

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Measuring a gravitomagentic effect with the triple pulsar PSR J0337+1715
• On the 2PN periastron precession of the Double Pulsar PSR J0737-3039A/B
• Nethotrons: exploring the possibility of measuring relativistic spin precessions, from Earth's satellites to the Galactic Centre